Life after graduation is presented as an open territory waiting to be explored, depending on individual determination. Drawing on narrative psychology and applying notions of temporality and identities, this study aims to investigate students' imaginations of the future as constructed in interaction with their resources and the narrative…

This article explores and compares the way in which Danish and Kenyan student-teachers achieve a professional identity while training to be teachers, drawing on conceptually-related theoretical approaches of critical psychology, social theory of learning, professional literature and literature about narratives and life history. Findings from…

Mixed methods longitudinal studies continue to be rare, yet have potential for transcending the limits of qualitative and quantitative paradigms. This article compares the life stories of 47 young people generated from a cohort study of 6000 children born in 1995. The cases were sampled through an association between two variables--drug use and…

The aim of this paper is to bring the voices of teachers to the foreground and provide insight into the collective aspects of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development in primary schools, as perceived by science and technology teachers themselves. Through narrative inquiry in a retrospective and situated perspective, the narratives of the…

Based on data from a researcher-generated activity and with the overall objective to gain insight into how students talk about themselves as readers, the study examines how, in a conversation with two classmates and a research assistant, 12-13-year-old students embrace or reject different figured worlds related to literacy. The analysis…

In this paper, we aim to understand the implications of the structural changes of the Bologna process from a student perspective. We investigate how bachelor's degree students' in a post-Bologna era with three-year bachelor's degree and two-year master's degree units construct their post-bachelor's choice narratives in two different science degree…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study different aspects and tensional forces that play a role in the internal and contextual negotiation that takes place within students in the exploration of the possible identity of entrepreneur. It expands the knowledge of how the university context influences student entrepreneurial processes from a…

This article sheds light on the emergence of private tutoring in Denmark. Written from the perspective of a tutoring entrepreneur, it discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by a fledgling tutoring company in present-day Danish society. The article is a personal narrative of the author's experience with establishing the first major Danish…

In the EU, ambitious objectives have been set for education and training since the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda in 2000. The policies aim among other things to empower the individual through participation in lifelong learning which is seen as both a right and a duty: 'People need to want and to be able to take their lives into their own hands--to…

Stories and storytelling provide meaning and build connections between individuals. Using various narrative frameworks developed in the medical and career development disciplines, the author makes the case that narrative approaches can be applied to higher education and student affairs contexts. The use and misuse of technology can serve as a…

Purpose: In the domain of shadow education (private supplementary tutoring), Denmark and China may be placed at opposite ends of a spectrum. Denmark has a recently emerged, small, and high-cost sector that mostly serves low achievers, while China has a more industrialized sector with a long history and economies of scale. The paper juxtaposes the…

What are the possibilities and/or limitations for becoming subjects differenciated from previous categorizations, such as "troublemaker", to which certain students are subjected? This is the question analyzed in this paper, based on observations of, and narratives and perspectives of, two 15-year-old ethnic minority boys at a school in…

This paper utilises the conceptual lens of intersectionality to explore gendered academic career trajectory in the context of one participant's challenge to a normative reading of the link between her private life and its relation to a "successful" academic career. The paper then charts the recalibrations that needed to take place to…

This article focuses upon the processes whereby individuals reframe their career goals and career direction mid-way through their working lives. Three cases, drawn from Denmark, Germany and Italy, are used to exemplify these processes. The cases are part of a larger study which included the development of a model that could accommodate the…

"Education, education, education" has been a mantra in transnational and national policies since the mid-1990s: everybody has to take part in learning activities throughout their lives in order to stay employable. Hereby lifelong learning establishes a dividing practice between active and inactive lifelong learners constituting the…